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A recent study on US high school students showed that mentoring encourages college enrollment. Furthermore, in-person coaching seems to improve engagement and college persistence.
It is a fact that low-income students are less likely to graduate from college than their high-income peers. Federal and state governments from the US have invested in counseling programs to counter this disparity. One of these programs is Bottom Line, and since 1997 it has helped more than 7,000 students with their 79 full-time counselors. Most of the mentored students are low-income high-schoolers, and some are the first in their family to attend college. They get financial aid and are advised to get the best college for their budget.
Here is a case study of one of the students helped by the Bottom Line mentoring program:
A study conducted by Andrew Barr, assistant professor of economics at Texas A&M University, found that mentoring before college increases college enrollment. 81% of assisted students in a 4-year university graduated, compared to the 59% of the US average –according to the National Center for Education Statistics. This report shows positive effects of the Bottom Line program are 40% larger in the 2nd year after high school graduation.
Bottom Line counselors not only help students deciding where to go to college, but interactions keep happening during college semesters. This report shows that assisted students are more likely to remain continuously enrolled in college over the first three semesters following high-school graduation compared to those without guidance.
The positive effects of mentoring in college enrollment and persistence are encouraging. With guidance, high school students seem to take better decisions and are better prepared to face university challenges.
If you would like more information on Mentoring, download our free EduTrends report.
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This article from Observatory of the Institute for the Future of Education may be shared under the terms of the license CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 
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